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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Southland

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Southland.

The land district of Southland includes the counties of Southland, Wallace, Fiord, and Stewart Island. It lies to the south-west of Otago, and covers a considerable area not originally included in the limits of the old provincial district of Southland. The district is comprised between latitude 45 degrees and 47 degrees south, and longitude 166 degrees 15 minutes, and 169 degrees 15 minutes east. For administrative purposes, however, Southland includes the Snares, Auckland, Enderby, Campbell, Bounty, Antipodes, and all other islands within the limits of the colony, south of latitude 47 degrees south.

The present eastern boundary of Southland starts a little to the west of Chasland's Mistake, and runs in a northwesterly direction to Lake Wakatipu. The great lake itself forms part of the northern boundary, which runs north of the Eyre Mountains, almost due west to George Sound on the west coast. The land district is thus much larger than the original province, which was nearly all comprised between the Mataura and Waiau rivers. The area of Southland today, including Stewart Island, but excluding the smaller islands mentioned above, is 6,966,592 acres; whereas the provincial district was only 2,776,000 acres in area. Stewart Island, separated
Protected. Golden Bay, Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island. Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, Poto,

Protected. Golden Bay, Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island. Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, Poto,

page 776 from the mainland by Foveaux Strait, is about forty miles long and twenty-five miles broad; its area is less than 1000 square miles, or about equal to the total area of the minor islands round the English coast. Stewart Island was annexed to Southland by act of the New Zealand Assembly in 1863.

Though of comparatively small area, Southland contains within its borders some of the most striking and impressive physical features of New Zealand. The highest mountain peaks south of Mount Cook are to be found in the Otago provincial district, but the Stewart, Kepler, Murchison, and Matterhorn Ranges, which lie east of the great Sounds, are at least as imposing as their loftier northern rivals. the Takitimo Ranges (Telford Peak 5280 feet), the Hunter Range and Eyre Peak (6084 feet) are magnificent mountains; but the general characteristics of their scenery must be reserved for later description.

The Southland lakes cannot in any geographical sense be distinguished from those of Otago. But in scenic beauty they present many contrasts to Waka-tipu and Wanaka. The largest of these lakes is Te Anau. It is about thirty-eight miles long, from one to six miles in breadth, and its total area is 132 square miles. Its mean height above sea level is 694 feet, but as its depth is at least 1350 feet, its bottom is 660 feet below ocean level. It has a coast line of 250 miles. Except along a small portion of the east side, it is surrounded by magnificent, thickly wooded mountains. The track to Milford Sound by Sutherland Falls is only thirty-three miles long, but the direct distance to the West Coast from Te Anau is in many places considerably less. Lake Manapouri, though the smallest of all the great lakes (only fifty square miles in area) is generally regarded as the most beautiful. The Cathedral Peaks (5134 feet) to the north, the Matterhcrns (4858 feet) on the west, and the Hunter range on the south, are a fit setting for this picturesque sheet of water. Manapouri is only twelve miles by coach road from Te Anau, and only thirteen miles by track from Deep Cove, at the head of Smith Sound.

In Southland the rivers are numerous and important. The Waiau, which originally formed the western boundary of the province, drains a large portion of
Protected.Half-Moon Bay, Stewart Island.Muir & Hoodie, Dunedin, photo

Protected.Half-Moon Bay, Stewart Island.Muir & Hoodie, Dunedin, photo

the wild west country, and carries to the sea the waters of the great lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The Mataura, rising in the Eyre mountains, was the eastern boundary of Southland. The Oreti rises in the same range, and flows nearly due south to Invercargill harbour. The Aparima, or Jacob's river, rises in the Takitimo mountains, and flows; parallel with the Oreti, into River-ton harbour. These rivers range from about sixty miles to one hundred miles in length.

About 500,000 acres of Southland, including Stewart Island, are still covered with bush. The fiord country is almost wholly mountainous, and below the snow line the huge broken ranges are covered with bush and scrub. The bush land suitable for timber lies mostly inland, and in comparatively easy country- around Forest Hill and Hokonui, and at the back of Waikawa, as well as Stewart Island. Totara, rimu, rata, and matai are still found in large quantities; while the various forms of birch or beech grow luxuriantly round Lake Te Anau and about Preservation Inlet and the south-west fiords. Stewart Island is mostly covered with a dense growth of rata, rimu, and kamahi. In the accessible parts of the country, timber milling has long been an important and valuable industry.

In Southland and Wallace counties there is a large quantity of compara tively level or undulating land, carrying in its natural state tussock, fern, flax, and manuka. In the low lying valleys there is a considerable area of marshy land interspersed with peat bogs. The low hills bounding the valleys of the great rivers of Southland, being thickly covered with tussock and native grasses, afford excellent grazing even in their native state. But the most valuable agricultural land consists of the alluvial soil forming the river valleys. The Mataura, Oreti (New River), and Aparima (Jacob's River) and Waiau, with their many tributaries, run through valleys which, narrow near the sources of the stream, widen towards the sea, and, in some cases, form extensive plains. The alluvial origin of this country renders it extremely fertile; in fact, equal to any agricultural land in the colony. These plains and valleys generally rise from the level of the rivers in a gradual slope by means of low terraces and undulating tussocky hills, intersected by gullies that afford natural drainage and a regular supply of water.

Within the Lake district, the country is extremely broken and rugged, often rising to 6000 feet or more above sea level. The lower hills here afford admirable summer pasture; but from April to October most of the fiord country is under snow.

Southland was never so thickly wooded as most of the northern provinces, but page 777 there is still a considerable area of forest, and a large export trade has always been done in timber of various kinds. But most of the land available for agricultural and pastoral purposes is now cleared of bush. The rivers are of little use as means of communication, but roads and railways bring most portions of the district within easy access of the coast. No part of the colony is better provided with means of internal transit; and the harbours at Riverton and the Bluff afford every facility for the establishment of trade by sea.

The history of Southland dates far back towards the foundation of the colony. Murihiku (to give it the native name) was casually examined by Mr. Tuckett, the chief surveyor to the New Zealand Company, as early as 1844, when he was endeavouring to find a suitable location for the Free Church colonists, who subsequently founded Otago. But Mr. Tuckett thought very little of the country, and described it as “a mere bog utterly unfit for human habitation.'' However, this unpromising quarter of the island had long before become tolerably well-known to the only people who then cared much about New Zealand- the Pacific whalers. Far back in the “twenties” and “thirties” these daring pioneers of civilisation had haunted Preservation Inlet and the coast of Foveaux Strait; as early as 1814 a craft of 150 tons was built by the sealers in Dusky Bay, and in 1818, when the first colonists reached Otago, there were small settlements of whalers at Jacob's River, at the Bluff and at Tautuku. Among these first-comer Captain Howell and Captain Stevens, and Mr Theophilus Daniel, were prominent figures. “Squatting” had begun in the fine pastoral country back from the sea long before Otago was a province; and, by 1853, when constitutional government was at last granted, there was already in Southland a considerable white population, energetic and vigorous as men must be who dare the perils of life in strange and unknown lands. The Maoris on the mainland were a scanty remnant of the Ngaitahu, who had exterminated the Ngati-mamoe, and had in turn been hunted down and massacred by the Ngatiawas, who came south with Rauparaha from the North Island. The last battle between Maoris in Murihiku was fought at Tuturau in 1836; and when the dawn of New Zealand history breaks, the chief stronghold of the Southland natives was the island of Ruapuke in Foveaux Strait. Here some two hundred natives lived under their chiefs of whom the most powerful, Tuhawaiki (Bloody Jack) exercised authority over perhaps 400 more along to coast of the Strait. To this island, in 1844, came the Rev. John Wohlers, a Moravian missionary, who made the first attempt at extending Christianity to the Maoris of the far south. This devoted man laboured among the natives for thirty-eight years, dying in 1885. But even when unconverted, the Maoris of the coast in the olden days were not as a rule dangerous neighbours, and were generally on amicable terms with the white strangers.

The Murihiku block was purchased from the natives by Mr. W. Mantell, the Crown Lands Commissioner, for £2000, in August, 1853; but no organised attempt to administer this country was made till after 1856. Meantime, while the whalers decreased, the “squatting” population grew, and the increasing prosperity of this southern extremity of the island attracted the attention of the infant settlement at Dunedin. In 1856 Governor Gore Brown, on the occasion of a visit to Otago, took advantage of the new born interest in Southland to suggest that the Bluff harbour, hitherto famous chiefly as a whaling station, should be known in future as Invercargill, in compliment to the patriarch of the Otago “Pilgrim Fathers.” Finally, it was decided that the rapid development of the southern district should be recognised by the foundation of a new town, to be called Invercargill, while the Bluff was to be officially described as Campbelltown, in honour of Lady Gore Brown, who was a Campbell. Surveyors were promptly sent down to map out the country and townships, and arrange for the settlement of waste lands by squatters, who, much to the indignation of Dunedin officials, had hitherto ignored the land office traditions as to order of rotation in taking up their allotments. The chief surveyor, Mr. J. T. Thomson, executed a survey of the whole block; and a local land office, under the control of Mr. W. H. Pearson, was opened at Invercargill to encourage settlement.

At this time the country round Invercargill was extremely rough and uninviting. Mr. W. H. S. Roberts, in his “Southland in 1856–57,” describes in great detail the mud flats, the dangerous creeks, the bush growing down to the water's edge, the lagoons, the peat mosses, and the long stretches of land to be viewed from the Bluff hill.

The first cargo of imported sheep was landed at the Bluff harbour (Awarua) in 1855. It was not declared a port till January, 1856, at the same time as the New River. Captain A. J. Elles was
Native Pa at Matariki Island, Pahia.

Native Pa at Matariki Island, Pahia.

page 778 Customs officer for both ports, as well as Resident Magistrate, Postmaster and Treasurer. The first pilot, James Smith, was not gazetted till October, 1856. By the end of 1857 a line of scattered cottages along what is now called Tay Street, represented the town of Invercargill. Captain Davidson, in his schooner the “Star,” was the channel of communication with Dunedin, and the voyage took from three to six weeks. It was not till 1858 that the “Queen” steamboat arrived in Dunedin harbour, and was set by her indefatigable owner, Mr. James Macandrew, to trade between Dunedin, the Bluff, and Melbourne. At this stage of the provincial history, Riverton was the centre of settlement, and the focus of social life in the young southern colony. As it commanded the approach to the northern and central grazing districts, it was naturally the town through which most of the work of settlement and a great deal of the trade was carried on. Mr. J. P. Taylor, later Superintendent of the province, did much for Riverton in those early days. But the most typical and representative of the southern settlers was Dr. James Alexander Robertson Menzies, who was then a member of the Legislative Council of the colony. The head of the general Government was the Hon. E. W. Stafford, who was by no means adverse to the suggestion that Otago should be subdivided in the interests of the southern squatters. Southland was seething with discontent, and complaints were rife of the greed of the provincial authorities at Dunedin, and of the neglect with which luckless Murihiku was treated when there was nothing to be made by consideration. In Dr Menzies the discontented settlers found an able advocate of their claims; and his cultured intellect, high reputation, and resolute will soon assured the success of the movement towards separation.
At this juncture a measure was passed in the Otago Provincial Council by Mr.Macandrew, that might have had a serious effect upon the future of Southland. The “Land Sales and Leases Ordinance Act, 1856,'' empowered the Waste Lands Board to sell 600,000 acres of land in Southland, in blocks of not less than 2000 acres at ten shillings per acre, without the forty shillings improvement conditions. If the land had been taken up, and the price secured by the
Protected.Head of Lake Manpouri, from the Beehive. Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo.

Protected.Head of Lake Manpouri, from the Beehive. Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo.

page 779 Dunedin Board, it is plain that Southland could never have had an independent existence. But, happily for the future of Southland, very little of the land was taken up.

As Southland grew in population, and its property increased, it became more and more clearly evident that it could not be satisfactorily administered from so distant a centre as Dunedin. But the Otago settlers were anxious, for obvious reasons, that their province should not lose so valuable an asset. In June, 1858, a public meeting was held in Dunedin to draw up a memorial against the separation of Southland from the parent province. This move was counteracted by a public meeting held at Invercargill in March, 1859, at which the case for separation was fully set forth and steps taken to urge its necessity upon the General Government. A later meeting at Invercargill, in April, 1860, showed that the enthusiasm of the Southlanders had somewhat cooled, or that the advantages of close connection with Dunedin were more manifest than before. The growth and activity of public opinion in the far south, are well illustrated at this stage of Southland's history in the early numbers of the “Southern News and Foveaux Straits Herald,” which first saw the light in Invercargill on the 14th of February, 1861. At last, on the 28th of March, of that year, the “New Zealand Gazette” informed the colony that Murihiku had been constituted “The province of Southland,” with Invercargill as its capital. On the 5th of June following, it was proclaimed that the Provincial Council was to consist of eleven members, to be chosen by the 269 electors scattered over six electoral districts. Mr. W. H. Pearson was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands, and Messrs J. A. R. Menzies, John Blacklock, and Captain Elles were commissioners of the Waste Lands Board of Southland.

The first Provincial Council was elected as follows : Robert Stuart (Speaker), Nathaniel Chalmers, W. F. Tarlton, for Invercargill; W. H. Pearson, John Mackay, J. Wilson, for Wa:-hopai; James A. R. Menzies, for Mataura; Alexander McNab (Chairman of Committees), for Campbell town; Freeman R. Jackson and Matthew Scott, for New River; Henry McCulloch, for Riverton. The first Superintendent of the province was Dr James A. R. Menzies, with whose career the whole provincial history of Southland is intimately connected.

The members of the first Provincial Council were thoroughly representative of the country that they were to govern, and were for the most part men of unusual ability and singular breadth of view. It hardly needs demonstration that the men who had the courage and strength of will to face the trials and surmount the obstacles of colonial life in the early days were of a type that would have left their mark on any civilised community. Dr. Menzies was a runholder, who had settled on the banks of the Wyndham, and a man of wide culture and stainless reputation. “His misfortune” writes one of his coadjutors, “was that he didn't understand business; his fault, that he thought he did; while his over-confidence, which induced him rather to contemn advice, was the superstructure on the basis of a too sensitive and nervous temperament.” His virtues and his defects alike made it difficult for him to work with his Council; but his subsequent rejection was due to this failing alone. No one has ever successfully impugned the integrity and unselfishness of his enthusiasm for Southland; and it was due rather to the nsuperable difficulties that surrounded the infant province from birth, than to any lack of ability in his administration, that Dr. Menzies did not realise the high hopes with which his term of office was inaugurated.

Many other members of the first Council are worthy of more than passing notice. Mr. Robert Stuart, a runholder of Edendale, was conspicuous for his practical common sense and business ability. Mr. Alexander McNab held land on the east of the Mataura, entirely outside the Southland province; and his election was thus an extraordinary compliment to his ability and integrity. Mr. Henry McCulloch was then a runholder between Jacob's River and the Waiau, and was better known in later years as the Resident Magistrate of Invercargill. Mr. Mackay was a “squatter” in the Manapouri district; Mr. Freeman Jackson-long afterwards a familiar figure in Wanganui-and Mr. Nathaniel Chalmers, were both squatters; and the only representative of the genuine farmer class in the Council, was Mr. James Wilson, of Waianiwa, a thoroughly typical and shrewd, bard-headed agriculturist. Mr. W. F. Tarlton was a retired schoolmaster, whose public spirit and sense of devotion to duty are sufficiently established by the title conferred on him by his colleagues -“the Roman citizen.” The first Provincial
Dunsdale Creek.

Dunsdale Creek.

page 780
ProtectedInvercargill In 1876 Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo

ProtectedInvercargill In 1876 Muir & Moodie, Dunedin, photo

Council of Southland made many mistakes; but there can be no question that its members were one and all inspired with an earnest desire to do their duty and to consult the interests committed to their charge, in preference to their own.

The first members of the Executive Council were Messrs W. H. Pearson, Chalmers, McCulloch, and Mackay. Mr. Chalmers was Provincial Treasurer, Mr. Thomas Morell Macdonald was Provincial Solicitor and Crown Prosecutor, and Mr. Theophilus Heale, a singularly unassuming but well-informed and capable man, was Chief Surveyor. The new Council soon found that the financial aspects of its position constituted the chief danger to the youthful province. From April to August inclusive in 1861, the total revenue from land and all other sources, amounted to only £1431; and the people began to entertain serious doubts as to whether the realisation of their ambitions was after all a blessing.

In the meantime Invercargill was growing in size and population. The original survey of the town included only the seven central blocks, along Tay Street and Dee Street, which were considered sufficient for current requirements. Tay Street, two chains broad, and the main East Road, one chain wide, had been pegged off for about two miles, and the sections on either side surveyed. On paper the town was mapped out in rectangular blocks about eighty in number, with a garden reserve or belt on the land side, facing the New River Estuary on the west. The Streets were at right angles to one another, with the exception of the Crescent; Annan Street, including the railway reserve, being three chains wide, while Tay, Dee, Clyde and Tweed Streets were two chains, and the rest narrower. More than half of the town site was covered with fine timber, portions of Tay and Dee Streets running through the bush. The town sections were offered for sale on the 20th of March, 1857; but already several persons had built on the sections with the intention of purchasing. The township was still called “The Point” and many of the local residents thought that the name of Otarewa (creek) should be attached to it, or that the first settler on the spot, Kelly, should have been commemorated in naming the town, rather than Captain Cargill. At this date, settlement was already progressing in the town limits; several huts had been built; the surveyor's office and Macandrew's store were finished, and Lind's accommodation house boasted the first glass windows seen in the township.

The first sale of town sections in Invercargill realised very satisfactory figures. The upset price was £8 per quarter acre. A good many sections were bought on account of Mr. J. T. Thomson, the chief surveyor. The section on which Macandrew's store stood at the corner of Tay and Dee Streets realised £46 The next section was bought by Mr. John Jones, of whaling fame, for £45; the next by Mr. John Kelly, the first settler, at £36. Mr. Mackay bought another section for £42, so that on the whole the earliest inhabitants seem to have had considerable faith in the future of the town.

On the 31st of December, 1856, the census of “the district south of Tokomairiro” totalled 671–419 males, 252 females; but the settlers of Southland were not enumerated separately. For the same date the agricultural returns for the “southern portion of Otago” were: horses, 288; cattle, 4554; sheep, 31,528; wheat, 234 acres; oats, twenty acres; potatoes, 114 acres; total area of land sold, 8184 acres. At the end of 1857 the census was taken for Murihiku separately for the first time. The population was-259 males, 147 females, total 406; of whom 113 had been born in New Zealand. Land had been purchased to the extent of 1232 acres, of which about 200 acres were fenced and 130 acres in crop. The average yield was about thirty-five bushels per acre; and as oats sold at 5s, wheat at 8s, and barley at 9s per bushel in Dunedin, the returns to agriculture were satisfactory. In 1861 when Murihiku was first gazetted as the province of Southland, the population of Invercargill was 400, and that of the whole new province 1500. The population of Otago at that time was about 15,000.

The first town board for Invercargill was elected in September, 1861, and the first agricultural show and ploughing match was held in July of the following year. The discovery of gold in 1861 naturally made a great difference to the conditions of Southland. With the influx of population and the general expansion of trade, the revenue rose to £21.000 for the five mouths ending January, 1862. By the end of the financial year in 1863, the revenue amounted to £103,942, which was over £8000 ahead of the estimate. But the expenditure seemed to increase in quite as startling a ratio. Moreover, the inevitable difficulties of government were intensified by constant friction between the Superintendent and the Council. Dr page 781 Menzies had determined at all costs to open up the country and to undertako various important public works. The first of these, the construction of a railway from Invercargill to the Bluff, was started by the passage of the Bluff Harbour-Invercargill Railway Bill through the Council, in March, 1863. The Colonial Government accepted this scheme as embodying a necessary public enterprise; and the money was partly advanced from the colonial treasury, and partly raised by debentures. Just at this juncture a great opportunity came in Southland's way, which Dr Menzies, with a chivalry largely misunderstood by both friends and foes, refused to utilise.
Mimihau River, Munro's Bush, Wyndham.

Mimihau River, Munro's Bush, Wyndham.

The discovery of gold at the Dunstan, Cardrona, and other districts east of Wakatipu and due north of Invercargill had attracted an immense increase of population to Otago. The natural means of approach to the new diggings was by way of Southland; and thousands of Australian diggers landed at the Bluff and New River on their way north. The goldfields were beyond the northern boundary of Southland, but the natural outlet for the gold was Invercargill, and it was confidently expected that the Southland Council would at once appoint a gold receiver at Queenstown, and by establishing a gold escort divert the outflow of gold, with all its countless advantages, in the direction of Invercargill. But Dr Menzies took his stand upon the fine point that as the goldfields were in Otago, provincial honour and administrative etiquette alike demanded that Southland should wait till arrangements had been made by Dunedin for receiving and escorting the gold. Otago, of course, took the necessary step; the golden opportunity was lost, and the escort that was finally sent up from Invercargill to Queenstown returned without an ounce of gold. The Southland Council was largely opposed to the policy of Dr Menzies on this particular, and Mr. Pearson resigned his seat as a protest against the action of the Superintendent in refusing to take the advice of his Council.

The Superintendent speedily floated his Public Works policy which included the following items: the Oreti Railway Ordinance, authorising the construction of a railway between Invercargill and Winton; with an Ordinance authorising the issue of debentures to the amount of £110,000 for the construction of this railway; and the Appropriation Ordinances to the amount of £140,000. But when the Council opened its sixth session in 1864, the Superintendent informed the members that the Governor had disallowed the Appropriation Ordinance. Nine out of eleven Councillors then signed a pledge that they would not take any part in Executive business unless the Superintendent would undertake to act by the advice and consent of his Council. The business of the session included the passing of Loan Bills—£40,000 to complete the Bluff-Invercargill railway, £120,000 to cover liabilities on general expenditure, £25,000 to cover advances to the Town Board; while the estimate for the year totalled nearly £100,000. But Dr Menzies resented the action of the Council in endeavouring to coerce him into accepting its views, and accordingly withheld his assent from two bills on which members had expended much time and trouble; the Provincial Government Ordinance which would have defined more clearly the relative duties of Superintendent, Council, and Executive, and the Representation Ordinance, which, while securing a juster distribution of political power on a population basis, would have rendered a dissolution necessary.

In 1864 there was further friction with the Central Government, and the Colonial Secretary (Mr. William Fox) informed the Superintendent that only the Bluff-Invercargill Railway Loan Bill would be accepted. The whole of the Executive, with the exception of the Treasurer, Mr. Tarlton, now resigned, and Dr Menzies, still refusing to make any concession to his Council, was left absolute ruler of the Province till the election at the end of the year.

The second Provincial Council met in December, 1864. The Speaker elected was Mr. James Wilson; but Dr Menzies was rejected for the office of Superintendent. The choice for this responsible position finally fell upon Mr. J. P. Taylor, an English gentleman who had come down from Nelson in the early fifties and settled with his family at South Riverton. The Executive consisted of Mr. T. M. Macdonald (Provincial Solicitor), Mr. William Stuart (Provincial Treasurer), Messrs Calder, Cuthbertson, and Hodgkinson. But the omens for the future were very inauspicious. The credit of the colony was low; the Maori war was engaging the energies and the resources of the Central Government; and provincial securities were almost valueless on the London market. A Select Committee of the Provincial Council, consisting of Dr page 782
Crescent Block, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. E. B. Filcher.

Crescent Block, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. E. B. Filcher.

Menzies, Messrs Cuthbertson, Stuart, and Calder, was appointed to consider the financial position of the Province. They reported that the liabilities amounted to £450,000, and that £155,000 was required to meet immediate calls. It was thus becoming obvious, even to the most enthusiastic advocates of Independence, that autonomy was a most expensive luxury. The rulers of Otago understood this too, and during the fifth session of the Council, the then Superintendent of Otago, Mr Thomas Dick, forwarded a resolution passed by the Otago Council to the effect that it was desirable that the provinces should be reunited. But Southland was not yet hopeless, and rejected these advances. During this session some relief was afforded to the finances by the passing of the Southland Provincial Debts Act, the Council undertaking to pay debts by the issue of debentures guaranteed by the Land Board. Attempts were made to sell or lease the railways, but these were vetoed by the Central Government. But the Council determined to persevere in the work of opening up the country, and arranged to finish the Oreti line with iron rails as well as to survey a line from Invercargill to the Mataura.

In 1867 the third Provincial Council was elected; Mr. Wilson was re-elected Speaker, and Mr. J. P. Taylor was again chosen as Superintendent. The Council agreed to complete the Oreti line to Winton, and to build the Invercargill-Mataura line, with land grants of 60,000 and 150,000 acres respectively. The Bluff Harbour and Invercargill railway was leased for a short period, and the interest on the Provincial debt was capitalised to the end of 1868—this last on the suggestion of the General Government. But with the seventh session of the Council (1869) the temporary harmony was suddenly disturbed. The Superintendent had, during the recess, taken upon himself to dismiss his Executive Council—Messrs Calder, Pearson, Ross, and Pratt. The Provincial Council then passed an almost unanimous resolution to the effect that the Superintendent's action was “unwarrantable.” The Superintendent, therefore, resigned, but as the Council was at once prorogued, he immediately withdrew his resignation. Meantime the Superintendent of Otago (Mr. Macandrew) had forwarded to the Southland Council a resolution in favour of the reunion of the Provinces. It was suggested that each province should appoint three commissioners to discuss the terms of such an arrangement. Southland was by this time pretty well persuaded that independent existence was no longer possible; and the Council therefore chose as delegates Messrs. Johnston, Ross, and W. H. Pearson to confer with the commissioners appointed by Otago—Messrs J. L. Gillies, W. H. Reynolds and James Shand. The session was closed by a dissolution; but before the next Council met, the commissioners had conferred, and the southern representatives had decided in favour of re-union.

Public Gardens, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. A. M. Macdonald.

Public Gardens, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. A. M. Macdonald.

page 783

In December, 1869, the fourth Council met and elected Mr. W. Johnston Speaker. There was a contest for the post of Superintendent between Mr. W. Wood and Mr Cathbert Cowan, in which Mr. Wood was successful. The new Superintendent had been for sometime a landholder in Invercargill and had sat as member for Campbelltown in the Provincial Council. He also represented Invercargill in the General Assembly, and was subsequently a member of the Upper—House. Mr. Wood was a shrewd capable man of business, and he took a thoroughly practical view of the situation. He explained in his opening address that the province had to face heavy liabilities, that its credit was seriously impaired, and that settlers were leaving for more prosperous parts of the colony. “The provincial estate,” said the Superintendent, “cannot be utilised, the public creditor is unpaid, the salaries of the public servants are many months in arrears, and the ordinary revenue is wholly insufficient to provide for the necessary machinery of Government.” In this state of affairs the Council had to face two alternatives—increased taxation or union with Otago. As the first course was impracticable there was nothing left but to accept the report of the commission appointed to consider the case for retrogression. The Southland and Otago Union Bill had been passed by the House of Representatives during 1869; nothing was now needed but the voice of the Council to pronounce the irrevocable sentences. Dr Menzies and a few devoted followers voted against the report, clause by clause, but the Union was carried by a majority of eleven votes to six. The division list is worth preserving: Ayes, Messrs Calder, Johnston, Daniel, Macdonald, Toshack, Kinross, Lyon, Bell, Dalrymple, Petchell, McGillivray. Noes, Dr Menzies, Messrs McNeill, Lumsden, Webster, Stewart, and Basstian. “The Report,” says Dr Heeken, “was written in the happiest spirit; there was no recrimination, no exultant tone, and the concessions and agreements were liberally conceived.” Naturally enough, the promoters of independence felt the defeat bitterly; but the position was hopeless. A debt of £100,000 was too heavy a burden for 7000 scattered settlers in a new land, and there was only one course to take. The measure was submitted to the General Assembly, and re-union was finally proclaimed in November, 1870. The gain to Southland was undeniable; and Otago profited largely, not only by an increase in her landed securities, but by the direct gain accruing from the sale of the provincial land reserves.

The record of Southland as an independent province was distinctly creditable. The Bluff Harbour and Invercargill Railway was a work of real colonial importance; and the Provincial Government led the way in opening up the hitherto unsettled country in the north of Southland and the centre of Otago. The work that these pioneers undertook was too extensive for their limited means; but it was planned precisely on
Road And Railway Bridge Near Wyndham.Photo by Mr. W. R. F. Fraser.

Road And Railway Bridge Near Wyndham.Photo by Mr. W. R. F. Fraser.

the lines of the Vogel Public Works policy afterwards adopted by the colony. In enterprise, enthusiasm, public spirit, and above all in honesty of purpose, The rulers of Southland can well bear comparison with any body of public men whose acts are recorded in the annals of New Zealand.

Enough has been said of the general physical characteristics of Southland to indicate that it is well adapted for every form of agricultural and pastoral settlement. The plains, terraces, and lower hills are peculiarly fit for grain, as well as turnips, mangolds, and other root crops. Wheat is not so largely grown as oats, chiefly because of the importance of the pastoral industries, to which oat-growing is a useful accessory. In Southland, Wallace, and Fiord counties (covering the Southland provincial district, with modifications) there are 245,594 acres under crop, and 755,928 acres of ploughed and unploughed grain land. There are 1154 acres in garden and 650 acres in orchards. The return for wheat where it is grown is highly satisfactory, averaging from 40 to 60 bushels per acre, while oats often give as much as 80 to 100 bushels per acre. Several flax mills have been started; linseed is also being freely cultivated, and often brings a return of £5 per acre.

As in many other parts of New Zealand, the dairy industry has already assumed large proportions in Southland. There are twenty-three dairy factories, one a large condensed milk factory, one a Stilton cheese factory, the rest cheese and butter factories. As the forty-two dairy factories belonging to Otago and Southland combined, produced butter and cheese to the value of over £260,000 in 1901, it is evident that Southland has here a source of great and permanent wealth.

But as is natural in such a district, infinitely the most important industries are those connected with the raising of mutton and the export of wool. The hilly uplands of Southland, though they do not carry more than an average of page 784 one sheep to the acre, are very healthy, and from the earliest period of colonial settlement, there has been keen competition for the Southland runs. Some
Photo by Mr. E. B. Pilcher.Water Tower, Invercargill.

Photo by Mr. E. B. Pilcher.
Water Tower, Invercargill.

years ago the rabbits had overrun the country to such an extent that the sheep farmers were almost driven to despair; however, careful inspection, fencing, and relentless “rabbiting,” have reduced this danger within manageable limits. Originally the prevailing sheep was the Merino; but the paramount importance of the freezing business has caused Leicester, Lincolns, and crossbreds to supersede the older stock. There are several refrigerating works in Southland; and the most important (near Bluff harbour) is generally considered to be the most complete in the colony, more especially in connection with the manufacture of by-products. The thirteen freezing works in Otago and Southland combined, valued their output in 1900, at £443,165. Even the detested rabbit was frozen and exported to the number of over six millions, valued at £144,616. The Otago and Southland freezing works also produced preserved meat to the value of £36,032; tallow to the value of £16,000; other by-products to the value of over £17,000; and of these returns Southland claimed a considerable share, which will be largely increased in the immediate future. Vigorous efforts have been made in other directions to develop the great natural resources of the district. Seams of coal and lignite occur in many localities and have been extensively worked. The oil-shale at Orepuki has already proved a valuable asset; in 1901, over 12,000 tons of shale were treated at the works. Gold is also a source of cosiderable industrial activity. Payable reefs have been worked for years at Preservation Inlet; and gold is also found in Stewart Island. But in addition to goldmining, a large amount of capital has been invested in dredges for either beach or river work. Probably the first gold taken from this colony to England was found in the Mataura Valley in 1857. After the “rush” to Tuapeka had set everybody thinking of gold in 1861, Mr. Mecgibbon (of Macgibbon Bros., Mataura and Gore) got samples of gold from the Mataura bed. Within the last six years when the dredging boom spread to Southland, the whole of the dredging ground along the Mataura and Waikaka valleys and Waimumu creek, has been taken up. No phenomenal yields have been obtained; but as most of the dredges are owned and worked by private parties, consisting chiefly of labouring men, they have succeeded through care and economy, where public companies might have failed. Still there is no doubt that large alluvial areas of Southland are gold-bearing, and that they well deserve the attention they have received.

Another source of wealth that Southland has not yet exploited far, is to be found in the seas that wash her shores. The south and south-west coasts of the island absolutely swarm with fish, which will some day be extensively utilised as an export. Large quantities are already sent to Australia; and the Stewart Island oysters are famous throughout the colony.

The climate of Southland is, on the whole, well adapted to the profitable development of her resources. It does not seem to have altered much since “the fifties.” In 1857 there were 165 days described as fine; consequently 200 on which some quantity of rain fell. But the amount of rain was by no means great—only about 24 inches for the twelve months. In 1857 there were fifteen days on which snow fell; which would not be a severe average now. But the records taken by Mr. W. H. S. Roberts seem to point to an unusually dry season. For the traditions of the early colonists tell of frequent furious storms and deluges of rain brought up by the sou'-wester from the Antarctic seas. However, the district is no longer so notorious as of old for
Sylvan Scene, Bluff.

Sylvan Scene, Bluff.

page 785 heavy rains; the annual average is not much above 30 inches a year, and the destruction of the primitive bush has apparently tended to reduce the rainfall, even within the memory of living settlers. More rain naturally falls near the coast than inland, and the fiord country, where the meteorological conditions are quite exceptional, is believed in certain quarters to register as much as 100 inches of rain per year. The fall, however, seems to be more evenly distributed through the year, than in the northern portions of the colony, where the wet and dry seasons alternate with some approach to regularity. Nor is the winter temperature so extreme as might be expected from the position of Southland, exposed to the full fury of the Antarctic gales. The thermometer readings range from 40 degrees in the winter, to 70 degrees in summer, so that neither heat nor cold ever make life intolerable, or work impossible, as in some less favoured quarters of Australasia.

Thus blessed by nature with a healthy and bracing climate and great potential wealth in its plains, rivers, and hills, it was inevitable that Southland should develop into one of the most prosperous settlements in the colony. The mistakes made by its too confident rulers during its separate provincial existence, were sufficiently injurious in their effect to retard its growth for some time; but the extension of the main trunk railway from Dunedin to Invercargill in 1878 was the turning point in its history. From that date Southland has never looked back.

All through the years of her provincial history Southland had been gradually growing in wealth and the attributes of civilisation. In 1856 the Otago Provincial Council had arranged for the establishment of a postal service from one end of the Province to the other at an annual cost of £600. Of this amount £300 was set apart for the Dunedin-Invercargill postal service, which entailed delivery once a fortnight, and thus connected the southern district with the rest of the civilised world. But for many years the townships were of necessity only small nominal centres for the agricultural and pastoral life which revolved about them and represented the true growth and vital activity of the young colony.

By 1857 the Mataura plain was well stocked, and as an old identity put it, look “quite civilised” on a fine day. The back country was also filling up well, especially along the Aparima. Mr. Robert Stuart, afterwards first Speaker of the Provincial Council, had purchased a run on the Mataura at a price equal to £2 per head for the sheep, with the run given in. Twenty shillings a head for ewes and lambs was then no uncommon price. Mr. W. H. S. Roberts, in that year, bought eighty acres of rural land close to Invercargill, including a portion of the Seaward bush, for £40. In October of the same year Mr. Pollock sold thirty-three acres of land near Invercargill, fenced and partly cultivated, with a small hut,
The AthenÆUm, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. David Ross.

The AthenÆUm, Invercargill.Photo by Mr. David Ross.

for £130. In the town itself property was fast rising in value, and Macandrew's store, with stock, was sold in 1857 for £400. But the first great impetus to the growth of town life in Southland came with the movement towards separation, and the enlarged political and social activities that the success of the movement implied. In 1861, the “Southern News and Foveaux Straits Herald” was published at Invercargill; and in 1862, the “Southland Times” first saw the light. Coach communication was opened between Invercargill and Dunedin in April, 1864, and telegraphic communication with Dunedin and Christ-church in May, 1865. Meantime, persistent efforts had been made to explore and open up the almost inaccessible back country. Dr Hector discovered a pass from the northern Lake district to the West Coast, in October, 1863, and Mr. Vincent Pyke also penetrated to the coast in October, 1867. Nor was internal communication neglected. The Bluff-Invercargill railway was opened in February, 1867; but the collapse of the Provincial movement was followed by a period of stagnation, during which the district slowly recovered from the financial excesses into which it had plunged. After the adoption of the Vogel Public Works policy by the central Government, Southland railways took a new lease of life. In June, 1874, the Invercargill-Riverton railway was begun; and on the 15th of September, 1875, the Gore-Invercargill line was opened to the public.

In the meanwhile Invercargill and the other townships had developed a good deal of industrial activity. In 1874 the first steam engine was built in Invercargill, by Mr. Hay. In 1875, a site was leased at the Mataura Falls, for the erection of paper mills. The rural districts were organising for the encouragement of the extractive industries. In March, 1875, the Mataura Agricultural and Pastoral Association's first show was held at Wyndham; and in July of the same year, the first Invercargill champion ploughing match was held. In June, 1877, the Gore-Waipahi railway page 786 was opened. In April, 1878, the demand for increased shipping accommodation was marked by the appointment of Sir John Coode to inspect the Bluff and New River harbours.

The years 1878 and 1879 were marked by two most important events in the history of internal communication in this colony. In August, 1878, the last rail was laid on the Dunedin-Christchurch railway, and in January, 1879, the railway was thrown open between Dunedin and Invercargill which now enjoyed direct land communication with Christ-church and Lyttelton as well as with Dunedin and Port Chalmers. About the same time the first sod was turned on the Waimea Plains railway, the Riverton-Invercargill line was opened, and the Fdendale-Tois-Tois line was started. The growth of Invercargill rendered it necessary, in the same year, to borrow £100,000 for the construction of waterworks, the extension of the gasworks, and other improvements; and Campbelltown (Bluff), now first attained municipal honours. In 1881, the industries of the district received a great impetus from the opening of the Invercargill Industrial Exhibition; but the growth of Invercargill itself was to some extent checked by two disastrous fires in 1882 and 1884. The opening of the Edendale dairy factory in 1882, marks an epoch in the pastoral history of Southland; and the institution of the Union Steamship Company's annual excursion to the West Coast Sounds helped to bring the natural wonders of this part of the country into public notice. The value of foreign tourists was then beginning to be appreciated; and the discovery of the Sutherland Falls, and the new track from Te Anau, by M'Kinnon, in 1888, added another unique attraction to the wonders of the Alpine country.

Of the beauties of the natural scenery of Southland, it is almost superfluous to speak. The thirteen Sounds which break the western coast-line within 120 miles, are surpassed in grandeur not even by the famed Norwegian Fiords. Even the often-quoted description of Milford Sound by the Rev. W. S. Green, does less than justice to the variety and impressiveness of their beauty: “The countless waterfalls, the giant snowtopped crags towering into the air above the unfathomed waters; the green foliage relieved by grey lichens and bush flowers, the snow fields and glaciers high over head, form a combination of grandeur and beauty which no words can adequately render.” The Sutherland Falls, the highest known waterfall in the world (1904 feet), is itself less impressive than the wonderful scenery in the Clinton Valley. Even the approach to the Apline region, in itself more than repays the tourist. By the Waiau Valley route, “the traveller to the lakes is not called upon to pass over a single mile of uninteresting country, while much of it is simply magnificent. For sixty or seventy miles he travels under the very shadow of the serrated summits of the giant Takitimos, whose burnished pinnacles pierce the sky 5000 feet over head; while on his left hand, and at no great distance, run the majestic snowcapped Hunter Mountains with the wild turbulent Waiau sweeping resistlessly down between.” The great lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, which lie within the border of Southland, represent the high-water mark of New Zealand scenery. Lake Te Anau has a coast-line of about 250 miles, and weeks could profitably be spent exploring the recesses of its three great fiords. “For twenty miles after passing the South Fiord, all is wondrous beauty of hill and mountain, valley and ravine, many-tinted foliage, and many-hued cliffs. The mountains have closed in around us, not stern and awful like the rugged walls that imprison Wakatipu; but soft and beautiful in Nature's choicest robes, and wearing Nature's smile. Under the noonday sun, the whole mass of foliage becomes illumined. The silver birch becomes a brighter green, the broadleaf a deeper olive, the scarlet rata-flowers become more brilliant, and the crimson mistletoe more vivid; the splendid red pine glows until it almost equals the glorious wattle, and the few dead trees appear no longer bare and lifeless, but—covered with moss, and long pendulous lichon, which conceals the nakedness of every limb—seem transformed into luxuriant clusters of whitest bloom, as if Nature willed that in this land of living green, the hand of Death should never be visible.” Yet even Te Anau falls below Manapouri in the charm and perfection of its beauty. “Lake Manapouri,” writes Mr. James Richardson, “the loveliest of all the lakes, boasts some forty square miles of water. Its extraordinarily irregular coast-line, and countless wooded islands, are features which lend to Manapouri attractions shared by no other lake. Delightful surprises meet one at all points, charming variety await one everywhere. Little bays, with pretty sparkling beaches are found nestled under spreading foliage, cheek by jowl with rugged cliffs, where the trees can scarcely find foothold; here are wooded knolls and rocky points, there a vast expanse of liquid mirror, reflecting forest-robed steeps and snowy peaks,
Doull's Crescent, Wyndham.

Doull's Crescent, Wyndham.

page 787 or exquisitely beautiful islets. At every turn the scene changes, but every transition is enchanting. There is none of the naked ruggedness which is the striking feature of Lake Wakatipu, yet there is ample background to set off the softer beauties of the scene. Were it possible to construct an ideal lake, were a conclave of the world's artists to scheme the plan, unfettered by considerations of cost, nothing finer than Nature's Manapouri could be conceived.” In view of all this magnificence we can well understand why many shrewd observers have asserted that New Zealand's most valuable asset is her Alpine scenery: and of this inestimable possession Southland seems to monopolise the most splendid portion.
One important result of the growing popularity of these tourist resorts, has been the general improvement of internal communication throughout Southland. Roads and railways are constantly being formed, and tend to facilitate the approach to the Alpine country. The most direct way of reaching the lakes is to go from Invercargill by rail to Lumsden (fifty miles), along the course of the Oreti, and then to proceed by coach to Te Anan (fifty-two miles). The alternative route is from Invercargill to Otautau (thirty-two miles) by train,
The Bridge, Riverton.Photo by Mr. Edgar Ward.

The Bridge, Riverton.
Photo by Mr. Edgar Ward.

thence by buggy to Manapouri via Clifden, and up the Waiau riuer (eighty-seven miles). This route is being shortened by a crossing at the Mararoa, which will enable tourists to reach Manapouri from Invercargill in one day. Of course, visits to the smaller lakes, Poteriteri, Hauroto, Mararoa, and Monowai—all alike beautiful—involve additional time.

The most important railroad in Southland, is naturally that which connects Invercargill and the south coast with the Otago Lake system at Kingston (eighty-seven miles). Apart from the Main Trunk connecting Invercargill and Dunedin, the chief lines are:

(1)

The Invercargill-Riverton, twenty-six miles; continued to Orepuki, forty-three miles.

(2)

The Waimea Plains line, from Gore to Lumsden, thirty-seven miles.

(3)

The Lumsden-Mossburn line, towards Lake Manapouri, eleven miles westward.

(4)

The Winton-Hedgehope line, eleven miles south-east.

(5)

The line from Edendale (twenty-three miles from Invercargill on the Main Trunk line), to Glenhani, eleven miles south.

(6)

The Invercargill-Waimahaka line, twenty-six miles eastward.

(7)

The Nightcaps branch from Thornbury Junction, twenty miles from Invercargill; to Otautau, twelve miles, and Nightcaps, twenty-five miles.

Lumsden, fifty miles from Invercargill, at the junction of the Kingston and Waimea lines, is thus a great centre of railway communication, and is no less important as the focus of the coach roads leading up from the coast towards the Lake district. Further extensions of the railway system include the Mataura bridge on the Riversdale-Switzers branch, and rail-laying on the Orepuki-Waiau line. Gore is to be connected with Kelso on the Heriot line, and from Mossburn and Otautau, two westerly lines will be pushed forward towards the Waiau and the great lakes.

This extension of the road and rail system implies a great and progressive advance in settlement. In 1897 it was written: “There is no part of New Zealand developing just now so rapidly as Southland,” and that development has gone on almost uninterruptedly to the present day. “Land is being taken up,” the writer proceeds; “flocks and herds and exports are increasing, industries are growing, mining is successful, and altogether it would be hard to find a more thriving district. There is mountainous country to be taken up by the sheep-farmers; there is fertile bush land for the dairy-farmer; there is gold-bearing country for the quartz miner, or alluvial miner; for the prospector there are miles and miles of untrodden auriferous country, which promises wood and water and game in abundance. For fishermen and small settlers there are hundreds of sheltered bays and snug islands, and waters that literally teem with fish.” In the face of such evidence it is only to be expected that the settlement should advance rapidly, and that the district should be prosperous. There still remains for disposal a large area of Crown lands, estimated at about 500,000 acres; and this, though forest land of a generally inferior nature, will soon become suitable for stock when taken up. Stewart Island, on which about 150,000 acres have been for some time past open for selection, must evidently pay the price of its isolation, and wait for settlement till the more accessible country on the mainland is more densely peopled. But on the whole, few portions of the colony have advanced so consistently and rapidly as Southland within the last twenty years.

One general proof of the advancement of the district is to be found in the increase of population. The census for 1896 showed that Southland county had a population of 21,603, Wallace 6,657, Fiord 151, and Stewart Island 244. In 1901, Southland county returned 22,583, Wallace, 7,989; and the whole district showed an advance of over 2,200 in five page 788 years. This population is distributed over a wide area and among a considerable number of boroughs and townships, which will compare with any of the same size in the colony, in commercial activity and success. Invercargill, the chief town, is well laid out with wide streets and ample town reserves. The streets are well paved and lighted; and the Corporation has done good work in providing water and gas for the town, and constructing an efficient drainage system. The population, including suburbs, is nearly 11,000—an advance of over 1,000 in five years. Five railways are concentrated here, of which the Bluff line carries an exceptionally heavy traffic. Among the numerous industries that
Pilot Station Road, Bluff.

Pilot Station Road, Bluff.

have grown up in and around the town, may be mentioned rope and twine works, carriage and agricultural implement factories, flour mills, suwmills, fellmon-geries, brick and pottery works, and iron foundries and breweries. The Government Buildings, with their handsome clock tower, would be an ornament to any colonial town. The New River Estuary, near which Invercargill is situated, provides a safe harbour for small craft, and helps to swell the large total of Southland's seaborne trade. But the largest portion of this must, of course, be credited to the Bluff harbour. For some years determined efforts were made to improve the commercial prospects of Invercargill by turning the New River Estuary into a harbour. Thousands were spent on breakwater and jetties; but the attempt has now practically been abandoned. The Bluff is, and must remain, the natural outlet for the trade of Southland. But apart from this, the prosperity of Invercargill has more than kept pace with the expansion of the district. At a recent meeting of the Chamber of Commerce it was remarked by the President that the town was growing rapidly, that new buildings, both residential and commercial, were being erected everywhere, and that to accommodate the increasing traffic the Government intended to make large additions to the workshops and railway sheds. It is true that Invercargill, like so many colonial towns, has somewhat anticipated its prosperity by borrowing. The total liabilities of the borough in this way amount to over £190,000, re-presented by an annual interest charge of £9,500. But the annual ratable value of the borough—which in 1871 was £10,500—is now over £61,000, and the revenue is about £28,000, so that the citizens of Invercargill have solid ground for their confidence in the future prosperity of their thriving town.

The Bluff township (Campbelltown), is of no great size—1,350 inhabitants at last census, as against 1,075 in 1896. But its position as the first port of call from Australia, and as the natural outlet for the whole of Southland's agricultural and pastoral produce, has, from the first, assured its prosperity as a seaport. Some idea may be gained of its importance to the colony from the magnitude of its export and import trade. In 1901, Invercargill and Bluff Harbour together, sent out exports to the value of £1,005,298, or only £400,000 behind Dunedin. But a far more remarkable fact is this, that the export returns from Invercargill and Bluff are the only expert returns for the whole colony that show a large increase. Between 1990 and 1901, the exports from Dunedin decreased £14,834, at Lyttelton £33,442. at Auckland £145,569, and at Wellington £401,432. On the other hand, the exports from Invercargill and Bluff actually showed an increase of £264,528. At the same time the value of imports to the same ports rose from £288,170 in 1900, to £328,727 in 1901, an increase of £40,557. Considering the size of the district, and its comparative isolation from the main course of trade, such figures are a remarkable proof of the commercial activity and prosperity of Southland.

Next in size to Invercargill of the Southland towns, is Gore, on the Mataura river, at the junction of the Main Trunk and Waimea Plains railways. Its position, and the fertility of the land in the neighbourhood, have insured the rapid growth of Gore. Its present population is 2,354, as against 2,032 at the previous census, and 1,618 in 1891. Riverton, the oldest settlement in Southland, and once a great resort for whalers, lies at the mouth of the Aparima (Jacob's) river, about twenty-five miles from Invercargill. It is the centre of a considerable sawmilling industry; and the harbour is freely used by coasting vessels. Riverton has a population of 815, against 893 in 1896; and this decrease shows the deflection of the population towards the agricultural and pastoral industries, which are destined to form the staple of Southland trade. Winton (474, against 397 at previous census) is on the Invercargill-Kingston railway, and is the centre of a prosperous sawmilling, farming, and coalmining district. Lumsden (population 437) is, as already seen, the nucleus of the rail and road system of Southland. Wyndham (417), connected by railway with Invercargill, opens another fine agricultural district. Fortrose, on the estuary of the Mataura, is a port with some coastal trade. Towards Catlin's river, Waikawa, a township only just settled on a fine harbour, has already page 789 established a timber trade. Orepuki, the most westerly town in New Zealand. is important on account of its shale deposits, which have been already utilised by the Government.

Some idea of the dimensions of the agricultural and pastoral interests of Southland may be gained by a brief reference to the J. G. Ward Farmers' Association Company, which, in spite of its unfortunate collapse, did a great deal for the country, and the farmers that it represented. In 1892 Mr. J. G. Ward's grain and wool business was floated into a company with a capital of £100,000, and close upon 1,000 farmers thus be-came personally interested in the enterprise. By 1894 two other firms, the United Farmers' Agency and Carswell and Company were incorporated; and the business of the Association had enormously increased. At this time the Association was handling yearly about 250,000 sacks of grain and grass seed; and about 7,000 bales of wool. In 1894 it chartered and loaded a steamer with 44,000 sacks of oats, up to that time a record shipment from the colony. At the horse sales held weekly, the turnover was at the rate of 2,500 horses a year. Branch businesses and wool and grain stores were opened at various country centres; and the scope of the business conducted by the Association was such as can be paralleled by few, and surpassed by none of the other agricultural and pastoral centres of the colony. Yet all this trade was the product of a district that twenty-five years before had been hopelessly bankrupt, and had resigned its independence because it could not manage to pay its way. The history of Southland, since the reunion with Otago, has, indeed, fully confirmed the confidence of its founders in its ultimate prosperity.

While the country has been growing in wealth and importance, the intellectual requirements of the people have not been neglected. The Southland Education Board expended between £30,000 and £40,000 on schools and salaries in 1901. There were 149 schools in the district; but of these, 118 had at a recent computation, an average attendance of less than 70; a fact which points to the wide distribution of settlement in Southland. The working average for the schools was nearly 8,000; and the number of teachers was 240. About £600 was expended in scholarships, and about £420 on tech-nichal and manual training. The District High Schools at Gore, Winton and Riverton represent secondary education in the country districts; while the success of the Girls' and Boys' High Schools at Invercargill is a proof that the zeal of the founders of Otago, in the cause of education, has borne ample fruits in Southland.

While Southland enjoyed independent political existence its interests were watched over in the central Legislature by its most capable and most devoted politicians. The Hon. Dr Menzies was fitly called to the Upper House in 1858, as the first Legislative Councillor for Southland; and, indeed, it would have been impossible to ignore him or to have improved upon the choice, for whatever faults might be urged against Dr Menzies as an administrator, his honest enthusiasm for the best interests of Southland was never called in question. In the fourth Parliament of New Zealand, which met in 1866, the hands of Southland were further strengthened in the Upper House by the inclusion of Mr. J. Parkin Taylor, the successor of Dr. Menzies as Superintendent of the province. In 1868 Mr. W. H. Nurse was also called to the Upper House to represent Southland; and after the reunion, these gentlemen retained their positions in the Legislative Council as members for Otago. Mr. William Wood, the last Superintendent of the province, who was elected in 1866 to represent Invercargill in the House of Representatives, and sat till 1870, was called to the Legislative Council in 1878, and occupied his seat till he died in 1885. The Hon. Henry Feld wick, who has been a member of the Legislative Council since 1892, had previously represented Invercargill in the House during 1878–79, 1882–84, and 1887–90. In Parliament as a whole, Southland has been represented by a succession of able men, some of whom have become conspicuous in the front rank of New Zealand politics. Its present representatives in the House are: Invercargill, Mr. J. A. Hanan, first elected in 1899; Awarua, Sir J. G. Ward, who entered Parliament in 1887, and is now Minister for Railways, Postmaster-General, and Colonial Secretary; Mataura, Mr. R. McNab, whose first election took place in 1894; and Wallace, Mr. J. C. Thomson, first returned at the general election of November, 1902. Sir Francis Dillon Bell, who afterwards became Speaker of the House, and later still Agent-General in London for New Zealand, represented Wallace in the House from 1860 to 1865; and Mataura from 1866 to 1875. Mr. W. B. D. Mantell, prominently associated with the work of early colonisation, also sat for Wallace during 1861–65. Mr A. McNeill represented Wallace from 1866 to 1868; Mr. Cuthbert Cowan, Wallace in 1869, and Hokonui during 1884–90; Mr. George Webster, Wallace from 1870 to 1875; Mr. Christopher Basstian sat for the same constituency
Mataura Bridge

Mataura Bridge

page 790 in 1875, and Mr. Henry Hirst during 1879–81 and 1884–87. Dr Hodgkinson, who represented Wallace from 1887 to 1890, had previously sat for Riverton from 1876 to 1879, during which period Wallace's representative was Mr. J. P. Joyce, who sat for Awarua from 1882 to 1887, when Sir Joseph Ward succeeded to that seat. Mr. Theophilus Daniel represented Wallace in the House during 1882–84, Mr. James Mackintosh from 1891 to 1896, and Mr. M. Gilfedder from 1897 to 1902, when he was succeeded by the present member. Mr. Donald Hankinson sat for Riverton during 1866–69, Mr. Lachlan McGillivray from 1870 to 1875, when he was succeeded by Dr Hodgkinson, who was succeeded in 1879 by Mr. P. K. McCaughan, who sat till 1881. Hokonui was represented by Mr. Henry Driver from 1882 to 1884. In addition to Mr. McNab, and others already mentioned, Mataura has had for its representatives Mr. J. S. Shanks, 1879–81; Captain F. W. Mackenzie, 1882–84, and the Hon. G. F. Richardson, 1884–93, and again in 1897. Mr. Richardson was Minister of Lands in Sir Harry Atkinson's Government. When Mr. W. Wood ceased to be member for Invercargill in 1870, he was succeeded by Mr. W. H. Calder, who sat for the period 1871–1872. Then came Mr. J. R. Cuthbertson, 1873–75; Mr. George Lumsden, 1876–77; Mr. H. Feld-wick, 1877–79; Mr. J. W. Bain, 1879–81, when he was succeeded by Mr. Feld-wick, whom he had succeeded; Mr. Feld-wick was followed in 1884 by Mr. Joseph Hatch, 1884–1887; and when Mr. Hatch went out Mr. Feldwick again came in, and sat in the House for Invercargill from 1887 till the close of 1890. Then Mr. J. W. Kelly was returned by the electors, and sat till the close of 1899, when he was succeeded by the present member, Mr J. A. Hanan. It may be said that all through its political history Southland has never lacked public spirited representatives, worthy of the great responsibilities entrusted to them.
Trophies of Sport in Southland

Trophies of Sport in Southland